The Nine Rebellions
The Nine Rebellions are actions taken throughout pony history that go against the wishes of the King and Queen and often have a significant effect on Equestrian history. After the 9th rebellion has occurred, the King will be "roused to anger". It is heavily implied that this will be the end of Equestria. The 1st Rebellion In the beginning, there was only the Eternal Herd, ruled by the King and Queen. However, their firstborn son Oceanus decided to overthrow the King and Queen. He gained supporters in the Eternal Herd, however they were defeated and exiled to Equestria. It is from this conflict that the first mortal ponies were born in Equestria from the combination of the King and Oceanus' power and Oceanus' blood. Having no interest in mingling with the mortal ponies, he headed to the Eastern Waters to recover his strength. The 2nd Rebellion After the first generation of mortal ponies died and returned to the Eternal Herd, the King and Queen grew concerned that having Oceanus' blood would allow him to control them and sent Lexarius to Equestria to keep Oceanus from having too much influence over them. He ruled over them peacefully for a thousand years, but soon grew bored of his job. He started manipulating the minds of ponies instead of ruling over them fairly, and it soon grew out of hand to the point where the King and Queen were forced to send their remaining children, Celestia, Luna, and Terrato to Equestria to defeat him. Using the Elements of Harmony, they turned Discord to stone where he was trapped until he broke free during the show. The 3rd Rebellion After defeating Discord, the King and Queen ordered the three of them to return to the Eternal Herd, however they refused and decided to rule Equestria themselves. Celestia decided to partition the land into the Heartland and the Barrier Lands, where the Barrier Lands would fight off Equestria's enemies and the Heartland would prosper remaining blissfully ignorant of the Barrier Lands' existence. Celestia and Luna lived in the Heartland while Terrato remained in the Barrier Lands to command the Equestrian Legion. The 4th Rebellion Luna eventually became possessed by Nightmare Moon, a spirit allied with the Wolven. Nightmare Moon then decided to bring about eternal night. Her ambition brough her into conflict with Celestia, and by attacking her she committed the 4th Rebellion. The 5th Rebellion In order to stop Nightmare Moon, the King and Queen ordered that Terrato kill Luna. However, Celestia had another plan. She used the Elements of Harmony to banish Nightmare Moon to the moon for 1000 years, until the Mane 6 utilized the Elements of Harmony themselves to free Luna from Nightmare Moon's control upon her return. The 6th Rebellion Sometime after the 5th Rebellion and before the events of The Breaking Point, Terrato picked up a protege named Black Rose who he quickly fell in love with. Because of their relationship, Terrato taught her much about magic, more than a mortal was supposed to know. She ascended to a near alicorn status, but soon developed greater ambitions. She decided to overthrow Celestia so that Terrato would be the sole ruler of Equestria, but was stopped by Terrato himself as he was forced to kill her. The 7th Rebellion After Twilight had accidentally broken through the barrier and discovered the true nature of Equestria, the issue of the barrier started to become a matter of heated debate between the three rulers of Equestria. This issue came to a boil after Black Rose, who had survived Terrato's attack, attacked Celestia and manipulated she and Terrato into fighting each other. This battle was the 7th Rebellion. In the midst of the fighting, Black Rose stole Celestia's powers, becoming a full alicorn. The barrier also came down as a result and Equestria was forced to reintegrate. The 8th Rebellion The 8th Rebellion has not occurred yet. The 9th Rebellion The 9th Rebellion has not occurred yet. The Queen's prophecy indicates that Oceanus will be the one to cause it, however, and implies that after this rebellion occurs, the King will come to Equestria and destroy it.